Wetlands: Ecology, Loss, and Restoration Efforts in the U.S.

What Are Wetlands?

Wetlands are the main link between the land and the water, and as such are vitally important to ecology. Wetlands have been misunderstood and abused throughout the history of the United States — and elsewhere in the world — and that has led to enormous environmental losses. This paper explores all pertinent information with regard to wetlands, from their definition and ecological functions to the scale of their destruction and the science of their restoration.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines wetlands as those "transition zones where the flow of water, the cycling of nutrients," along with the sun's energy, all meet in order to create "a unique ecosystem characterized by hydrology, soils, and vegetation" (EPA). The four categories of wetlands are swamps, bogs, fens, and marshes. The EPA describes marshes as wetlands that are "dominated by soft-stemmed vegetation," while swamps are quite different, as they are composed of "mostly woody plants."

As for bogs, they are freshwater wetlands that were formed by glacier-made lakes; bogs are dominated by "spongy peat deposits, evergreen trees and shrubs" with a floor featuring a "thick carpet of sphagnum moss" (EPA). The EPA defines fens as "freshwater peat-forming wetlands" that are noted for grasses, reeds, wildflowers, and sedges.

Essential Purposes of Wetlands

Wetlands are known as "nurseries of life" because they offer habitat for literally thousands of species of animals and plants. When people generally think of wetlands, they conjure up images of snakes, turtles, frogs, and even alligators. But wetlands are far more dynamic than mere homes for those animals. Importantly, wetlands offer habitat for mammals, fish, and in particular, waterfowl. When birds migrate in huge numbers, they use wetlands for rest and food on their journey south for the winter. The EPA reports that about two-thirds of the ten to twelve million waterfowl in the U.S. "reproduce in the prairie pothole wetlands of the Midwest."

But those are only a few of the positive reasons wetlands need to be supported and sustained through wise environmental planning and strategies. Wetlands help reduce the damage that floods cause; when rivers overflow, for example, wetlands absorb a great deal of that excess water, which reduces potential damage to property (EPA).

The EPA offers straightforward guidelines that citizens and elected public officials can follow in order to protect wetlands. Those guidelines are as follows: (a) citizens can buy "duck stamps" (costing $15) online at www.fws.gov — the money from the sale of these stamps goes to a fund that supports wetland acquisition and restoration; (b) urge public officials to resist destroying wetlands by draining or filling them; (c) when building homes near wetlands, plant native grasses or "forested buffer strips along wetlands" that border one's property; (d) volunteer for a program that monitors wetlands; (e) invite a "wetland expert" to offer a presentation at a school or other organization; and (f) if there is any question as to whether a certain small swampy area qualifies as a wetland, seek technical assistance from competent, knowledgeable authorities (EPA).

How Many Acres of Wetlands Are Being Lost Each Year?

The U.S. Department of the Interior has issued a report based on a five-year survey showing that wetland losses in the United States "are slowing," which is considered a gain for conservation, wildlife, and wildlife habitat. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar asserts in the report that "Wetlands are at a tipping point," because notwithstanding the slowdown in destruction, the country is still losing huge parcels of wetlands. The country has made "great strides in conserving and restoring wetlands since the 1950s," Salazar reports.

At that time, the country was losing wetlands — to development and urban sprawl — at the rate of roughly half the size of Rhode Island annually. Still, even though the rate of loss has slowed, because the nation remains on a "downward" trend with respect to wetland protection, the situation is "alarming," according to Salazar.

Between 2004 and 2009, the United States lost an estimated 62,300 acres of wetlands; following that loss, the U.S. still had a total of 110 million acres of wetlands (including those in Hawaii and Alaska), the report notes. Ironically, while restoration activities by conservationists, governments, and private parties increased the amount of restored wetlands by 17% compared to the period from 1998 to 2004, "the wetland loss rate increased 140% during the same period," meaning that losses outpaced gains (U.S. Department of the Interior).

The director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Dan Ashe, stated that in the last five years the U.S. lost "over 630,000 acres of forested wetlands," and that most of those lost acres were in the Southeast. The acreage lost amounts to "half a million football fields each year," and this should be of great concern to citizens, since wetlands help "ensure good water quality for local communities and provide vital habitat for a diversity of important wildlife species," Ashe continued in the U.S. Department of the Interior report.

The greatest wetland loss has occurred in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastal plain, and particularly in the Lower Mississippi River region. There were also severe losses in the Great Lakes region, in the "prairie pothole region," and in areas of urban development across the country resulting from urban sprawl and cities extending into wildlands, the report explained.

In addition to being a vitally important resource for wildlife, plants, and fish, wetlands are important landscape features, the Fish and Wildlife Service report emphasizes, because wetlands "hold and slowly release floodwater and snowmelt, recharge groundwater, act as filters to cleanse water of impurities, recycle nutrients, and provide recreational opportunities for millions of people."

Conclusion

The United States should not be allowing any wetlands to be destroyed, let alone the 630,000 acres lost that the Fish and Wildlife Service reported. A broad-based public awareness campaign should be established to: (a) alert communities to the negative impact this devastation has on the ecology, and (b) help organize massive volunteer efforts to prevent additional wetland losses and to restore those wetlands that have already been lost.

Works Cited

Environmental Protection Agency. (2008). Wetlands overview: What is a wetland? Retrieved July 23, 2012, from http://www.epa.gov.

Moreno-Mateos, David, Power, Mary E., Comin, Francisco A., and Yockteng, Roxana. (2012). Structural and functional loss in restored wetland ecosystems. PLoS Biology, 10(1), 1–8.

Southern California Wetlands Project. (2012). Wetlands Recovery Project community wetland restoration grant program 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2012, from

U.S. Department of the Interior / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (2011). Five-year survey shows wetlands losses are slowing, marking conservation gains and need for continued investment in habitat. Retrieved July 23, 2012, from